Intervals
Medium
Min Arrows to Burst Balloons
Find the minimum number of arrows to burst overlapping balloons.
10 min read
Solve on LeetCodeProblem Understanding
You are given an array of balloons where points[i] = [start, end] represents a balloon. An arrow can be shot up vertically at any x. A balloon is popped if start <= x <= end. An arrow can pop infinite overlapping balloons. Find the minimum number of arrows needed to pop all balloons.
Example:
- Input:
[[10,16],[2,8],[1,6],[7,12]] - Output:
2 - Explanation: Shoot one arrow at
x=6(bursts[2,8], [1,6]). Shoot another atx=11(bursts[10,16], [7,12]).
Algorithm Strategy
This is a Greedy problem similar to Non-overlapping Intervals. We want to shoot an arrow that pops as many balloons as possible. The best spot is the end of the earliest finishing balloon because that maximizes the chance to catch subsequent balloons.
- Sort: Sort balloons by their end coordinate.
- Iterate:
- Initialize
arrows = 1. SetendPosto the end of the first balloon. - For each subsequent balloon: If its
startis greater thanendPos, it means the current arrow missed it. We must shoot a new arrow. Incrementarrowsand updateendPosto this new balloon's end. - Else (overlap), the current arrow also pops this balloon. Do nothing.
- Initialize
Interactive Visualization
Step 1 / 1
Initializing...
1x
See the Logic in Motion
Stop memorizing code. Unlock the full interactive visualizer to master the logic step-by-step.ON THIS PAGE
- Problem Understanding
- Algorithm Strategy
- Interactive Visualization
- Dry Run
- Edge Cases & Common Mistakes
- Solution
Stop Guessing, Start Mastering.
Build the FAANG intuition. Master this pattern with optimized implementations, visual dry runs, and our curated collection of high-yield problems.
